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Give us safe trains, protesters demand

Give us safe trains, protesters demand
Members of activist coalition #UniteBehind protest at the Cape Town station on Friday, 23 August to demand safety on trains for commuters. (Photo: Suné Payne)
Suné Payne
By Suné Payne
26 Aug 2019
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Train safety, especially for women and schoolchildren, came under the spotlight as #UniteBehind members protested inside Cape Town station.

Lwando Matyhile, a 22-year-old woman takes the train every weekday from Khayelitsha to her college in Pinelands where she studies electrical engineering. Matyhile was at Cape Town Station on Friday afternoon, watching as members of activist coalition #UniteBehind protested inside the station for commuter safety on trains.

“They have a right to protest because we’ve been reporting this issue and nothing has been done about it,” said Matyhile. She told Daily Maverick she had been using the trains since 2015, when she started going to college, as taking the train was R9 a single trip compared with R18 by taxi. But while cheaper; “our trains don’t have windows, are always full and always late”.

Lwando Matyhile, a commuter from Khayelitsha, Cape Town, says nothing is done about crime on Metrorail trains. (Photo: Suné Payne)



Because trains are full and overcrowded, thieves target commuters. Women also fall prey to sexual predators who grope them on their commute.

“It’s not good at all, it makes us as women uncomfortable and there’s no-one to report it to,” she told Daily Maverick.

#UniteBehind organiser Zukiswa Vuka told the crowd the protest was to highlight the plight of women on trains. While Vuka was speaking, members of the coalition handed out pamphlets which included the statement that “women are targeted by twisted men, we are given no protection, we have nowhere to turn”.

Members of activist coalition #UniteBehind protested at the Cape Town station on Friday, 23 August to demand safety on trains for commuters. (Photo: Suné Payne)



Before the protest on Friday, #UniteBehind said:

“Tragic deaths often occur on trains due to overcrowding, failing infrastructure and violent crime. Women and girls are routinely harassed and sexually assaulted with no protection or recourse. The systemic delays and cancellations inflict untold misery on commuters. Workers lose jobs and face threats of dismissal, while small businesses are crippled by absenteeism and late-coming. Learners lose time at school and at home using a service that is unreliable and unsafe.”

There is a reason to worry about crime on the rail network: in 2018, the SAPS Rapid Rail Police Unit reported to the Western Cape Provincial Legislature that 139 contact crimes had been reported within Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) properties across the Western Cape. The unit has police officials working at major train stations in the metro — Cape Town, Bellville, Philippi and Retreat.

While there were 139 reported contact crimes, many go unreported: as Matyhile told Daily Maverick, she had either been sexually harassed or a victim of a crime while commuting “too many times”.

“Where are the alternatives if our children fail?” asked Vuka, as schoolchildren, dressed in their uniforms, shouted, “no more delays, fix our trains”. Likho Mendisi, a Grade 10 learner from Oaklands High School in Claremont, took the mic:

“Every time I have to take a train to school, I am late,” said Mendisi, part of a group of school children brought to the protest by Equal Education. He said if the trains are not on time, he misses up to three periods of crucial class time if he commutes from Khayelitsha to school in Landsdowne. If there are delays, he told Daily Maverick, he would arrive at school at 10am — usually before the first break.

As Mendisi spoke, the group of schoolchildren continued shouting, “no more delays, fix our trains”.

The school children and members of #UniteBehind then walked inside the train station, making their voices heard and handing out pamphlets as commuters walked by. Vuka said if their demands — which include the declaration of rail transport as a national disaster so funds can be unlocked to fix it — are not met by Prasa and the Ministry of Transport, they would be back. DM

Daily Maverick was informed by Equal Education that the parents of the schoolchildren were aware they were going to join the protest and gave written permission for the children to be interviewed by the media.

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